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Tuesday, 16 November 2010

After a spluttering start Free Shipping Fortnight is now well and truly underway. All orders for delivery within Great Britain and Northern Ireland qualify for free shipping and we have extended the period of the offer by 24 hours so it now finishes at midnight (23.59hrs) on Monday November 29th.

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

There is a wealth of information about axes on the internet, but here's a 'quick n dirty' bullet pointed guide that gives you as much info as possible in the briefest form I could manage. If you still have questions please feel free to drop me a line and I'll do my best to help.

Types of Axe

Felling Axes: Thin blades for slicing through the fibres of the timber.

Broad: Broad faced felling and universal axes tend to work better on softwoods like pines and firs.

Narrow: Blades with a short cutting edge concentrate the power and are generally better for harder timbers.

Length vs. Mass

The power of an axe blow is a function of the head weight, the handle length and the amount of energy the user puts into the swing.

Heavy head: Lots of power and momentum, takes more effort to use.

Light head: Easy to wield, but less effective.

Long handle: Multiplies the energy of the swing

Short handle: Greater accuracy

A big heavy head on a long handle with a skilful and fired up user (eg OX 440 H-2708 Competition Sport Axe) will make the maximum amount of progress in the minimum amount of time but is exhausting to use.

A relatively light head with a long handle (eg OX 16 H-1008 Iltis Canadian Felling Axe ) will give the most efficient transfer of the users energy into cutting power but may require practice to control.

A relatively light head on a short handle (eg OX 25 H-0806 Harz Pattern Universal Axe) is light to carry, easy to wield and accurate, although the size of workpiece that can be tackled is limited.

Handle Materials

Ash: Has a very high strength to weight ratio (which is why it was used to make the frame for the Wright Flyer and still is used to frame cars like the Morgan +4). A very traditional timber for axe handles its only drawback is that when it does break it tends to break in two.

Hickory: (shown above) is massively strong stuff, good quality Hickory (the best comes from North America) is capable of 3-4 times the physical loading of Ash. It also has a very long fibre structure which means that it splinters apart but is unlikely to break fully in two.

Fibreglass: Modern synthetic handles are virtually unbreakable, immune to the cold and wet and on paper they seem the obvious choice. They just don't have quite the same feel as wood though.

Sharpening

Acute angles: (typically found on felling axes) are sharper but more delicate.

Obtuse angles: (typically found on splitting axes) will be more durable.

Axes should be sharpened with convex bevels, which are stronger than flat or hollow ground ones.

Axes should never be reground on a powered grinder. If you get a big ding in the edge an aggressive file is the best way to remove it.

Safety

No steel on steel. Hitting two pieces of hardened steel together can cause chips of steel to fly off. By all means drive aluminium, plastic or wooden wedges with the back of a splitting hammer or hit steel axe heads or wedges with a polyamid or wooden mallet, but no steel on steel please.

Check your equipment: Make sure that the head is securely fixed to the handle and check the handle for any signs of damage before starting work – every single time.

If it doesn’t feel safe don’t do it: Think about where the axe will go if you miss or the material moves, if a body part features anwhere in the plan for stopping the axe – make a new plan. A knee high chopping block is an essential safety aid for chopping.

Thursday, 4 November 2010

We have recently started franking the parcels that we send out by Royal Mail (usually anything under 2Kgs). Although it is delivered by the same postie, franked mail runs through an entirely seperate system within Royal Mail, so it is faster as well as being a bit cheaper.

We have now adjusted the shipping calculator, so all of the prices are lower than before - some by a considerable margin. It doesn't make much of an advertising headline because the rates are individually calculated according to the weight of the order and destination, but it will still save our customers a bit of money which can only be a good thing.

By the way - using the second class service where available you can save even more and if your order is placed before 2pm you still have a 90% chance that your package will arrive the next day.

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

Thanks to some very generous assistance from Aiden (The Tiddles) of UKWorkshop, we finally have handle plans available for the Atkinson Walker saw kits. My apologies to those who have been waiting for them.

For an intermediate woodworker, these kits are great fun to make and you end up with a fantastic set of saws that you will enjoy using for many years. They also give you an appreciation of how much work goes into producing top-end handmade saws and perhaps even a few new skills that you can transfer to other projects.